and found a reboso, kissed her mother, waved her hand to Brotherton, and
stepped from the corridor to the street.

"Come here, señorita!" cried her mother. "No walk to-night, for I have
not the wish to walk myself."

"But I go with my husband, mamma."

"Oh, no more of that joke without sense! Señor Russell, go home, that
she have reason for one moment."

"But, dear Doña Eustaquia, won't you understand that we are really
married?"

Doña Eustaquia's patience was at an end. She turned to Brotherton and
addressed a remark to him. Russell and Benicia conferred a moment, then
the young man walked rapidly down the street.

"Has he gone?" asked Doña Eustaquia. "Then let us go in the house, for
the fog comes from the bay."

They went into the little sala and sat about the table. Doña Eustaquia
picked up a silver dagger she used as a paper cutter and tapped a book
with it.

"Ay, this will not last long," she said to Brotherton. "I much am afraid
your Commodore send you to the South to fight with our men."

"I shall return," said Brotherton, absently. His eyes were fixed on the
door.